Insight – Implementation – Integration
“The best guru is the Divine within you. Yearn to hear His teaching.”
~Sathya Sai Baba~
Swami often reminds us that peace is within. Recently, this teaching has taken on richer meaning in my life as I have stepped up my efforts to go within in search of Divine guidance on how to live my life. Whenever I turn inside with a question, I receive guidance in the form of insights. When I implement them in my daily life, they slowly become integrated into the fabric of who I am. I still have sea-legs that cause me to slip back into the old patterns of looking to the external world for peace. But when I succeed at looking inside and implementing the insights I gain, I experience a profound and encouraging inner peace.
Insight
When I seek Divine guidance, a response usually arrives in a flash. Often the answer is not what I expected—given my conditioned ways of thinking. Usually an image, an idea, or a quotation suddenly strikes me—enabling me to view a situation from a new, more meaningful perspective.
I began this way of seeking guidance when I first heard that Swami has promised that if we sit quietly and ask Him a question, He will respond within twenty minutes. Often my answers come in far less time than that.
Just after my child was born, I felt inwardly prompted to spend less time working outside the home and more time staying with my family. When the time came to renew my job contract, I heard an inner voice clearly say, “Do not sign the contract.” I sat at my altar for a long time, wanting to be sure that this was God’s will. When I asked repeatedly and heard the same response from the depths of my heart each time, I knew I had to follow the voice. The decision was difficult because I was attached to the benefits of working. But the peace I gained from following my inner voice has more than compensated for the loss of what I perceived as benefits that came from working.
I have often found that following internal guidance is very challenging initially, and only later rewarding. I often resist responding to it, while at other times I do not even remember to follow it. Yet, invariably I find that when I don’t heed my inner guidance, unrest follows. Fortunately, I have found that, at least initially, the mere act of sincerely seeking help seems to reap some benefit. Even if we lack the strength at first to implement what we hear, in seeking, we are taking one step toward Swami. He takes ten toward us to help us implement His guidance.
At times, I seek guidance and none seems to come, but I am learning to persevere, confident that clarity will come at the right time. I work harder at stilling my mind. At other times, I have heard a response and realized later that it was just my own mind following a personal desire. When I asked within why I did not hear Divine guidance, I realized that my personal desire had been so strong that I couldn’t hear my heart. I have learned how important it is to release personal desires before seeking guidance from the Divine. Insights have also been occluded at times when I pursued questions at a superficial level. For example, recently I asked if I should go to a conference. After days of receiving no inner guidance, an insight hit me. The issue was not whether or not to go. Instead, I needed to examine and elevate the intention behind going.
Implementation
As I learn to tune my mind to receive larger and more expansive insights—and as I learn to put them into practice—I feel that I am becoming progressively released from habitual and unreflective behavioral patterns. Those patterns were often based on a limited and inaccurate understanding of the world. They did not reflect Divine guidance.
When I do not act from inner guidance, my actions are binding. When I do, I feel liberated. Instead of acting from unresolved internal issues—or even as a reaction to those issues—I am learning to meet each situation afresh, from the perspective of Divine Guidance.
Of course, I still continue to search for peace in externals—even in wanting to see Swami’s form. Whenever I seek inner guidance about going to India, I hear, “It will happen in God’s time.” I know it is not for me to pursue this desire and I work continually to release the desire by seeking His presence within me with ever greater intensity. Ironically, when I recently received clear inner guidance to visit the Sathya Sai School in Thailand, I yearned to visit Swami en route. Yet unexpectedly, when I arrived at the Sathya Sai School, I immediately felt Swami’s presence everywhere. Following my inner guidance helps to strengthen my growing conviction that we must not limit Swami to His physical form and our idea of what it means to be close to Him. In this case, seeking and following Divine guidance enabled me to experience Him in a much broader and more expansive way than visiting India might have.
Integration
Looking within, one finds a vast treasure of guidance. Putting it into practice allows it to become integrated into the fabric of who we are. The peace and joy that surpasseth understanding come from following this guidance. Looking within has helped me develop faith in the world’s temporary nature. It has allowed me to place life’s challenges, even the seemingly large ones, in a new and more optimistic perspective. I know experientially, that whatever challenges come, I have the resources within to guide me in in facing them.
I am beginning to feel the same joy and peace I used to feel only in Swami’s presence—no matter where I am or what I am doing. Perhaps this personal experience illuminates the truth that Swami truly is within us as our own deepest reality. We can turn to Him at any time for guidance and fulfillment. Regularly connecting with His presence within allows us to manifest the great potential and peace inherent in us all. Cultivating the habit of turning within has yielded great peace and self-confidence—just as the process of putting the guidance into practice has done. Further, integrating inner guidance into my daily actions has become far more than just handling particular life situations. The act of turning inward to my Divine Inner Self has strengthened my faith in, and knowledge of, who we really are.
